When SIR was launched in Bihar, many expressed apprehensions about a politically motivated targeting of Muslim voters. Data – both at the district-level and a machine learning model-based analysis of elector rolls – did not support such apprehensions. The controversy regained traction in West Bengal when Muslim-majority districts received a disproportionately large share of notices – it is not clear whether all of them were issued under logical discrepancies – after the publication of draft rolls before the assembly elections
New Delhi, India - Oct. 25, 2026: Voters visit a special camp for enrolment and correction of electoral details after receiving notices during the final round of special camps under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls at Okhla in New Delhi, India, on Sunday, October 25, 2026. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)
Census and NFHS data for Delhi suggest Hindus should outnumber other religions in getting notices for having six or more kids
The Hindu’s analysis shows that Muslims received a disproportionately large share of notices for having six or more children than Hindus (58% versus 42%). 2011 census or 2019-21 National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) data shows that Hindus outnumber Muslims in having six or more children. If notices were issued uniformly to everybody having six or more children, Hindus would get more such notices. Clearly, it is not the criterion but its application which has led to the gross asymmetry in issuing notices under this category.
An analysis of notices for six or more children in other three states also raise similar questions
A comparison of logical discrepancy notices issued for having six or more children in the four states does not necessarily follow the share of women having six or more children in either the 2011 census or the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, once again raising questions on how this criterion has been applied. This can be seen from a weak correlation between the district-wise share of women with six or more children and the share of notices issued for this reason in the states of Karnataka, Telangana and Uttarakhand taken together. This once again raises questions whether the criterion has been uniformly applied under SIR.
Overall logical discrepancy notices issued do not seem to be correlated with Muslim population at the district-level
Abhishek Jha is Assistant Editor-Data at Hindustan Times. He uses statistical programming to generate newsworthy insights from large datasets. He is part of the team that produces Number Theory, a daily data story feature of the paper’s print edition. Since March 2024, he has been writing Weather Bee, a weekly column for the Hindustan Times website. He is a chemical engineer by training, who specialises in stories related to weather, climate, and the environment. Jha has been at HT since 2018, where he offers data-driven perspective and analysis on politics, environment, weather, climate, economy and society. His work includes data coverage of elections in India and abroad, including the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections; the disasters and extreme weather resulting from changing climate, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, cold waves, and dwindling snow cap in the Himalayas; the factors that drive poor air quality in northern India; the changing patterns of land use; the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on labour market conditions; the changing pattern of consumer spending seen in the new consumer spending surveys; and social norms seen in the surveys such as the National Family Health Survey.
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Home/Editors Pick/Do SIR's logical discrepancies target Muslims by design | Number Theory
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